Pearl Harbor survivor Houston James, 87, said he'd love to again see the Marine he hugged so emotionally on Veterans Day in 2004.

In the photograph, an elderly, jacketed survivor of Pearl Harbor embraces a decorated Marine, overcome with emotion as the younger serviceman returns the gesture with an artificial hand.

The setting is the plaza in front of Dallas City Hall at the conclusion of the 2004 Veterans Day Parade.

The powerfulportrait, originally published in The Dallas Morning News, found its way around the world, beloved by many a veterans organization for the collective bond of service and sacrifice it illustrates.

Seven years later, it lives on as the image of the Dallas Veterans Day Parade, which begins at 11:20 a.m. Friday.

“We thought this was a unique, memorable photo that really tells the Veterans Day story,” said the parade spokesman, Lt. Col. Bill Solemene, a retired Air Force vet.

Two men, representing two generations and two U.S. war efforts. Thanking each other for their service.

The WWII vet

The old man, handed the brochure, studied it closely as he held it with a wobbly hand.

“I forgot all about that photo,” he said this week.

Houston James is 87 now. He uses a walker to get around. His home is an assisted-living facility in Mesquite, and his wife, Marian, has been gone a long while.

“I’m over here in La La Land,” he said. “It’s just one day to the next, and that’s it.”

Military memorabilia populates his apartment — patches, decals, history books. A VHS copy of the Pearl Harbor film Tora! Tora! Tora! sits on a shelf.

The picture, he said, was taken at a parade downtown. He doesn’t recall the year. He taps the photograph with a finger.

“I was walking by,” he said. “He was up on the reviewing stand. I spotted him.”

And then he saw the man’s prosthesis.

The Marine

The Marine is retired Staff Sgt. Mark Graunke of Flower Mound, who, as part of an ordnance-disposal team in Iraq, lost his hand, leg and eye while attempting to defuse a bomb in 2003.

His mission was to keep roads free of explosive devices. On July 2, as he worked on a piece of unexploded material, it went off in his left hand.

Graunke, who now works for JPMorgan Chase in Coppell, had opted for ordnance-disposal duty after a stint as a Marine Security Guard. He did not respond to requests for an interview.

But on his LinkedIn profile, he writes: “I wanted to do something that was going to challenge me both mentally and physically. That is just what I got.”

Four years ago, Brandenburg Homes named a block of new development near downtown Dallas the Mark Graunke Jr. Addition.

“I strive for perfection in everything I do and I have no regrets for anything I have done,” Graunke goes on.

“Life is full of ups and downs and it is how you deal with those situations that will define you as an individual.”

Pearl Harbor

James still recalls that Sunday morning at Pearl Harbor nearly 70 years ago.

The Pensacola, Fla., native had joined “Uncle Sam’s Navy” a week after his 17th birthday and was assigned to athletic mess hall duty, serving family style meals to the basketball players and boxers of Pearl Harbor’s Ford Island.

“They had the privilege of not going through the line,” he said. “It was as good of duty as you could have. … They gave me payday tips. I picked up a little extra change that way — and some good friends.”

He was off duty when he heard the bombs going off a few blocks away. The young recruit, barely more than 100 pounds, didn’t even have time to put on his full uniform.

When he got to the barracks, “there was a lot of confusion,” he said. “People would grab me and say, do this, or do that.”

Suddenly, the nation was at war.

“There was no more athletic mess table after that,” he said. “That Dec. 7 changed everything.”